Integrated circuits are typically manufactured in automated or semi-automated facilities, by passing substrates/wafers in and on which the devices are fabricated through a large number of manufacturing steps to complete the devices. The number and the type of manufacturing steps a semiconductor device has to go through may depend on the specifics of the semiconductor device to be fabricated. For instance, a sophisticated chip may require several hundred manufacturing steps.
Furthermore, modern semiconductor fabrication facilities (“FABS”) employ systems to transport workpieces such as substrates/wafers and reticles to the tools required in the process flow. Therefore reticle transporting devices and wafer transporting devices have been adopted in semiconductor manufacturing tools/apparatuses used in manufacturing processes, such as the semiconductor exposure apparatuses used in a photolithography process. A system that is able to safely and efficiently transfer the workpieces in order to improve the throughput and output rate is thus necessary.